Before You Begin:
- This is a reference article describing system logic, not a step-by-step task.
- To change these settings on a contact, see Change the Restrictions Set On An Email Address.
Do Not Contact
Do Not Contact is honored throughout the software; however, there are two known locations where GrowthZone does NOT look at the Do Not Contact setting:
- Invoice delivery (billing pending delivery, email invoices) — Do Not Contact does not block invoice delivery. You will need to set Transactional Emails Only on the contact for this restriction to take effect.
- Groups that have "Disallow Opt Out" enabled — Emails are sent regardless of the Do Not Contact setting, with the exception of the Transactional Emails Only setting.
Transactional Only
The Transactional Only setting is honored at various places where emails are sent, with logic that varies depending on the situation.
General logic: If it is a mass email, GrowthZone honors the Transactional Only setting — because it is a mass email vs. a one-off email to an individual. One-off emails to individuals are determined as 'acceptable' since the contact has a relationship with the association.
An email is considered a mass email (Is mass email = true) if either of the following is true:
- Newsletter — sent from Email Designer, because all Email Designer sends are treated as mass emails.
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Emailable entity count is greater than the threshold — the value set under Marketing & Communication, Communication section, Settings, in Email Settings for Email Bulk Mode Threshold. Default is 30; must be set to a value greater than 0. See Email Bulk Mode Threshold for more information.
*What is an Emailable entity: each selection in your To: box — an individual email address, a static list/committee, a dynamic list based on membership status, event registrants, etc. Each selection counts as one emailable entity.
When Transactional Only Is Honored
Emails will not be sent to contacts with Transactional Only set to ON in either of these cases:
- If it is a mass email, except when sending to these emailable entities: Unknown, OrganizationContact, NotificationSubscription, Membership, FundraisingCampaignDonors, ForumNotificationSubscriptions, EventSponsors, EventNotRespondedInvitees, EventExhibitors, EventAttendee, EmailAddress.
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Or if the recipient list is one of these emailable entities: RenewingMemberships, MembershipType, MembershipStatus (Active, Non-Member, etc.), or sending to a group — with the exception that "Disallow Opt Out" enabled sends regardless of the setting.
Important Notes and Examples
Mixed emailable entities: If you have mixed emailable entities in your recipient list, recipients will default to receiving the email. For example: Bob has Transactional Only enabled and is both an event sponsor and has a tag on his contact record. If you select both the tag and event sponsors, and send from Email Designer, Bob receives the email because event sponsors always ignores the Transactional Only setting.
Tag, Category, and IndividualContact entities are difficult to reach the mass email threshold with, meaning emails will often get through to those marked as Transactional Only. For example: if your Email Bulk Mode Threshold is set to 30 and you pick 6 different tags representing 2,000 recipients, all 2,000 will receive the email regardless of Transactional Only status, because the logic counts 6 emailable entities (not 2,000 contacts).
Accessing the Address Book: To see emailable entity options, click the … at the right side of the To: box in the email editor screen to open the Address Book selection window.
Example — Events: Sending from within an event record will send to addresses marked Transactional Only. It does not send to contacts marked as Do Not Contact on their contact record.
Note: There is a Do Not Contact on the contact record itself (discussed here), and a separate Do Not Contact available for an email address within a specific List/Committee (which only affects delivery when that list/committee is used as an emailable entity).
If you use menu options under the event, such as Send Event Invitation, and choose 'Active' (a dynamic list based on membership status) or other options that are NOT specific lists, the Do Not Contact setting on the contact record is honored.
Common Pitfalls
- Do Not Contact does NOT block invoice delivery: For contacts you don't want to receive invoices, you must set Transactional Emails Only — Do Not Contact alone is not sufficient.
- Mixed entity lists bypass Transactional Only: Mixing entities that honor the Transactional Only setting with those that don't (e.g., event sponsors) will cause the Transactional Only setting to be ignored for the entire send.